Moving forward with positive focus
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well.
As you might know, we did a growth path survey a couple of weeks ago where we asked what kind of growth paths you all would like to see. And, one of the most requested categories was Moving forward with a positive focus.
I'd like to invite you to help me create good growth paths in this category. It would be great to team up where we collectively share what has helped us learn, understand, how to move forward with a positive focus. These can be personal experiences, things people have said to us, books or ideas we have come across, talks or short videos we have found on YouTube, images that we find helpful, etc.
Let's share all of the above in this thread and work together to figure out how to make these steps or exercises. It can be used to help others become better at moving forward.
Any and all ideas, thoughts are welcomed. This is our discussion space where we can get ideas flowing. We will figure it out as we learn and evolve. Thank you and I'm looking forward to working with you all on creating Growth Path Playlists on this topic!
We would also appreciate your feedback, thoughts on these topics too: Open here to check!
Thank you for sharing this with us Obs, can't wait to hear the feedback about this Growth Path.
I love the idea! Gratitude list helped me the most. I used to write it in the morning. Shifts focus to positivity immediately!
Hi! For anyone interested in a path about positive focus, you can check out the one I just made called "Sophia's Daily Steps for Positive Focus" HERE. Please leave a comment on the path if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them!
@ASilentObserver
Let's try to add a few new posts to this splendid suggestion and also look at moving forward by helping each other develop stronger minds, less prone to infection by negativity and mind pollution so wide spread in contemporary society
@RedStar01 That's great thought Star. Also thank you for reviving this post. Would you like to help with this?
@ASilentObserver
Thanks for your reply .... I'd like to help - yes, sure!
Can we suggest some ideas, books and YouTube videos for review & discussion so people may like to apply and/or sharpen their critical thinking skills ... would that be fine?
Normally, setting intentions at the beginning of the week and at the beginning of each day helps focus my mind and helps me move forward with a positive focus.
@WayJay I will normally start each week by listing the different projects that I have going on, in each area that I have in my life. Then, I will define a goal for each of those different projects or areas, that is reasonable to achieve within a weeks time.
@WayJay At the beginning of the week, I will observe each independent goal, and split each goal into independent, actionable tasks. Then, on a daily basis, I will identify what actionable tasks have the highest priority, and will make a list of things to do that day based on the prioritization scheme.
@WayJay Priority is usually given based on the immediate need of my environment, as well as any insights that I may have during the day or during mindful activities such as meditation or journaling. It's important to develop the understanding of how to identify what is the highest priority based on external and internal demands. Practices can help you identify what these are in a more consistent and predictable manner.
@WayJay The execution is also important. It is important to have a system where you can effectively execute on tasks that you have set your mind to. I personally use the Pomodoro technique, as it provides several advantages. Chiefly, it provides a bout of activity that is measurable, which allows you to measure and predict how long similar tasks will take in the future, it provides a period where you can get some space away from the work, which allows you to stay focused on the task when you are working and provides a space for insight when you are mid execution, and it also makes you develop a better relationship with time, which in turn reduces anxiety and work related stress.
@WayJay
From the book "The Pomodoro Technique" by Francesco Cirillo, on developing a better relationship with time:
"Who hasn’t experienced anxiety when faced with a task that has to be finished by a deadline? In these circumstances, who hasn’t felt the need to put off that task or fallen behind schedule or procrastinated? Who hasn’t had that unpleasant sensation of depending on time, chasing after appointments, giving up what one loves to do for lack of time?
“Remember, Time is a greedy player who wins without cheating, every round!” Baudelaire wrote in his poem “The Clock.” Is this the true nature of time? Or is it only one of the possible ways to consider time? More generally, why do people have such a problem in the way they relate to time? Where does it come from, this anxiety that we’ve all experienced at the thought that time is slipping away?
Thinkers, philosophers, scientists—anyone who’s taken on the challenge of attempting to define time and the relationship between people and time—always have been forced to admit defeat. Such an inquiry, in fact, is inevitably limited and never complete. Few have provided any truly insightful perspectives. Two profoundly interrelated aspects seem to coexist in regard to time:
BECOMING. An abstract, dimensional aspect of time that gives rise to the habit of measuring time (seconds, minutes, hours); the idea of representing time on an axis, as we would spatial dimensions; the concept of the duration of an event (the distance between two points on the temporal axis); the idea of being late (again the distance between two points on the temporal axis).
THE SUCCESSION OF EVENTS. A concrete aspect of temporal order: We wake up, we shower, we have breakfast, we study, we have lunch, we have a nap, we play, we eat, and we go to bed. Children come to have this notion of time before they develop the idea of abstract time that passes regardless of the events that take place.
Of these two aspects, it is becoming that generates anxiety. It is by nature elusive, indefinite, infinite: Time passes, slips away, moves toward the future. If we try to measure ourselves against the passage of time, we feel inadequate, oppressed, enslaved, and defeated more and more with every second that goes by. We lose our élan vital, the life force that enables us to accomplish things: “Two hours have gone by and I’m still not done; two days have gone by and I’m still not done.” In moments of weakness, the purpose of the activity at hand is no longer clear. The succession of events seems to be the less anxiety-ridden aspect of time. At times it may even represent the regular succession of activity, a calm-inducing rhythm."
@WayJay
Sources for Becoming and the Succession of Events, above.
Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, Book Jungle, 2009.
Eugène Minkowski, Lived Time, Northwestern University Press, 1970.
@WayJay Thus, moving forward with positive focus, for me, is a combination of planning and execution. The planning is done through mindful activities and deliberate reflection on projects, action items, and reflection. Execution is done through a system that allows for increased productivity and for better over all relationship with work.
@WayJay It sounds like having structure and intention helps give you clarity and focus. Focusing your mind with intentional planning and priority-setting helps you stay motivated and productive. Reflecting on projects and breaking goals into actionable tasks provides structure. And using a system like Pomodoro helps you focus in intervals while also allowing breaks. Your mindfulness practices sound beneficial for gaining insight and clarity. What aspects of planning or execution do you find most helpful for your well-being?
I think focusing on the start is important because I think many people are at the start and know what to do but can't do it.
I've been told to make positivity lists. This even is a massive undertaking. Sometimes rustling up a pen and paper can be impossible.
There's also grounding or externalizing exercises. Really focusing on what ones sees or hears to stop inward spirals.
An app that helps with tracking goal setting, affirmations, reflections, and exercises is Finch.
A support group that helps women specifically is Soul Sisters on the In The Rooms app/site.
Other resources include journaling, smudging, Ayurveda, Astrology, Numerology, Tarot, Oracle.
Plant medicine is also becoming more known.